rough cut and abstraction

this past week, i finished up the first version of the rough cut of the film and it's currently about 1 hr 40 minutes. i'm really happy with the way it turned out, but it also needs a lot of work: there is no audio sweetening, no color correction, no sound effects, no music, etc. it also needs a fair bit of tighting up on a bunch of the scenes. i'd like to edit it down to 90 min to 85 mins, which i think is entirely possible. i'm relieved, but also realize that there is a ton of more work to do.

basically, this is the first time that i've able to view the entire film all at once, and i've tried to keep the structure constistent to the original script, except for one major change: the original script had separate 'chapter numbers' inserted into various places of the film to help qualify the structure of the narrative. currently, the film does not have these title breaks, and i'm wondering if not having these titles affects the overall film. i'm sending out this first version minus the chapter breaks to my friend bob massey out in l.a. so he can assess the music. but i plan to experiment this weekend with including these title breaks to see how it affects the overall film. either they will be too distracting, or they will be essential. we'll see...

PRAXIS is an art-film. it is experimental and it also has a non-traditional narrative structure. the film is also very abstract - the narrative doesn't immediately jump out at you, things are more symbolic and less literall, and there are a ton of 'unspoken connections' in the film. that's the beauty of film in that you can communicate a feeling or sense through the visuals and not the dialogue. these feelings do not always have to be that literal. they can be quite abstract, and that's what makes the film much more dynamic.

my partner saw a portion of the rough cut and asked me,"how did you come up with this idea for the film? it's so different that the way that i think." i'm intrigued by this question. the idea for the film comes from very simple concepts, but the presentation is abstract, is experimental, is an 'art-film'. that's what makes the film much more dynamic: an ability to express a non-traditional narrative through visuals. but i don't think that it goes too far that it loses the audience.

the narrative is there, you just may have to look a little bit harder to get it.